helping healthcare organizations grow

Welcome to The Healthcare Marketing Connection! This week we are exploring why patients leave us and why it's important to know why. Attrition is a natural part of all businesses, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't know why it's happening. Read this week's feature article to discover ways to find out why your patient's don't come back and what you can do about it.

On Monday Google announced a free medical record service that stores and manages individual health care information online. The country has been searching for inexpensive and safe alternatives for patients to access their health records online. Do you think Google is the answer? Google said it will mine anonymous trend data, such as what percentage of people with diabetes using Google Health get a flu shot. User pages will have a Google search box and advertisements will be targeted to their search results. Patients enter their own information such as prescriptions, lab results, hospital stays, etc. If patients do switch doctors theoretically the new doctor can have access to all entered health information, which could be helpful if records are lost or destroyed. Who knows with Google what the future will bring...

To your success!

Kelly

Strengthen your business - know why those patients leave

We all have clients that love us. And I mean loooooooove us. These are our favorite clients that we like to think about all the time. Clients like these are the reason we are in business and the reason we love our business so much.

Unfortunately, not all our clients are like this. We also have clients that, after a period of time, leave us and don't continue using our services. We know that in business this is not unusual. Client attrition is a normal part of a healthy business. Clients get better, move forward, change their minds.

However, as a business owner, it's important you know WHY these people are leaving. I am going to call these clients "inactive clients".

Why are they not coming back? Are they using your competitors? A company online? Did you alleviate a pain they were experiencing - basically you did your job - and they have no reason to see you anymore? Was there something that upset them or made them uncomfortable that they didn't want to come back?

Does asking make you uncomfortable? Don't stick your head in the sand! You need to know this stuff.

While it's important to acknowledge that all clients don't stay forever, you need to put a system in place to find out why they don't.

You may not have ever thought about why you lose clients before. Maybe you've thought about it and didn't know what to do. Maybe you are afraid to know, or don't want to know. It's a touchy subject and may be personal. What if they just didn't like you?

The only way to find out why a client has become inactive is to ask them. I understand this can be uncomfortable, but you need to find out. And the best way to do that is to ask. Asking why patients don't come back is something that needs to be done on a regular basis - it's a process you should systemize into your business so it happens automatically.

Systems need to be put in place so that when clients do become inactive (and you need to determine when that is) you make a phone call and find out what's going on. A less preferable option is to have your assistant call.  

Saying something as easy as "hey, we haven't seen you in a while and we've missed you. Is there anything going on? I noticed we haven't seen you in a few weeks. Is there something I can do to entice you to come visit us again?"

Be friendly and welcoming, but truly inquisitive as well. You may find there's something going on in your business that needs your attention. You may also find that a client is experiencing some sort of hardship you otherwise wouldn't have known about.

When you call to check on an inactive client you are doing several things.

• You are showing them you care
• You are telling them they matter and you noticed their absence
• You are checking on the quality of your business; both its processes and your employees.
• You are being a caring friend and checking on the welfare of another

This is one of those action steps that you just have to do. Your business will run better because of it.

(c) 2008, A Marketing Connection

Want to use this article in your ezine or web site? No problem! Just let me know at info@AMarketingConnection.com. I'll send you a short bio to include at the end of the article.

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